Harbor Side Scuffle
Conception The Harbor Side Scuffle took place in an ambiguous grey warehouse found near the New Melbourne docks. The location was discovered after Glass Jaguar latched onto the scent of a drug-dealing thug who had escaped justice from Hush. Phantom Gaze used her super hearing to deduce that the warehouse was definitely occupied. Phantom also discovered some mysterious wet "slapping" noises reverberating off the steel walls of the warehouse. The three heroes snuck in successfully and discovered much to their horror that the warehouse was filled with dozens of disgusting fish-man hybrid creatures that seemed to wander aimlessly throughout the warehouse. To the right, one of the thugs that escaped Hush was standing beside a table packed to the brim with drug-making equipment. Hush took this opportunity to stealthily approach, placing his trusty silenced pistol to the thugs' head and interrogating him. What he learned was largely unsurprising. This creep was nothing more than a cog in a much greater machine. Hush knocked the goon unconscious and the heroes deliberated quietly for a few moments before the sound of a car pulling up interrupted them. Taking each side of the warehouse doors, the Heroes witnessed as the seemingly inconspicuous Dr. Caridea (a surgeon who had previously helped patch up Glass Jaguar after his mysterious arrival) walked straight through and up to the unconscious body of the previously dispatched thug. Dr. Caridea took up a whistle and blew, and though no audible sound was heard, each of the fish hybrids suddenly stood to attention and following this, the water in the center of the docks began to bubble and brew as a large shape ascended from its' depths. Marilyna arrived from the water and instantly spotted the heroes. Dr. Caridea suddenly burst into a form of pink gelatinous ooze and escaped into the ocean, leaving Marilyna to deal with the heroes, prompting the ensuing combat encounter. Combat Encounter The fight began with approximately twenty fish hybrids swarming the heroes on both sides and the great hulking pufferfish form of Marilyna to lead them. Hush was the first to respond, and he did so by vanishing into thin air just as Marilyna stepped up to strike. She targeted Jaguar with a hefty strike but found her pummeling fist caught in mid-air by the shadowy paw of Tzekel-Khan. Jaguar's response was a cleaving strike from his macuahuitl which carved into the scuba-diver suit and drew blood. As she reeled back from this blow, Marilyna's mind became burdened and assaulted by a mental attack from Phantom Gaze, leaving her convinced that the sea-salt air and blue skies of the harbor were replaced by a sun-scorched desert which burned and peeled away at her skin. In response to the intruders, the hybrid fish-men immediately swarmed the heroes with a group of eight bearing down upon Glass Jaguar and a group of six snapping at the heels of Phantom Gaze. The fight was harsh, with multiple blows being exchanged between the heroes and Marilyna's fish men. Both Hush and Jaguar were gravely injured by Marilyna's poisonous pufferfish stingers and Jaguar, for an instant, loss consciousness. Hearing the voice of Tzekel-Khan, Jaguar roared back into battle and in a moment of heated battle placed a hand upon his amulet, channeling the spirit from within. Phantom, in an effort to combat the overwhelming force, used her intense mental strength to duplicate herself. Though the heroes were significantly outnumbered, the two Phantoms managed to keep the fish-men at bay and with their combined strength telekinetically pulled a great steel hook from the ceiling and sent it spiraling downwards into Marilyna. By the time Jaguar stood, the rage building within him, Marilyna lay collapsed on the floor with a bullet-wound piercing her neck. A gift from Hush, who caught a faint glimpse of Jaguar's form beginning to shift before gently returning to normal. With the fish-men swarming violently, the heroes decided to make their escape. Glass Jaguar summoned up the darkness of his spirit to blind them, striking deep with his blade and hurtling his circular shield across the room to help Gaze escape. When the heroes finally escaped, they failed notice the figure of Dr. Caridea watching them from a distance. Planning his next move...